1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical connector assemblies, and particularly to stacked electrical card connector assemblies with multi-function boardlocks.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional electrical card connector, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,095,864, 6,135,792 and 6,352,438 and Taiwan Patent Issue Nos. 238005, 244032 and 244643, is designed to receive a single electrical card. The electrical card connector is mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB) for electrically connecting the electrical card received therein with an electrical circuit of the PCB. The electrical card connector usually has boardlocks which mechanically fasten the electrical card connector on the PCB. More details about this kind of electrical card connector can be found in Memory Card Connector (Connector Specifier, pp. 40xcx9c42, February 1998).
Due to continuing trends toward miniaturization and improved electrical performance in the electronics industry, requirements for smaller components and higher electrical speeds are constantly being promulgated. Electrical card connectors such as the one mentioned above need to be made more compact, in order to save space in electronic devices in which these connectors are to be installed. In addition, more than one electrical card is needed inside certain electronic devices, to provide more functions for the device or to provide for transferring and saving of information. Each additional electrical card needed requires a corresponding additional electrical card connector. The simplest way to provide a plurality of electrical card connectors in a limited space is to stack the electrical card connectors on top of each other. However, each electrical card connector has a separate boardlock used to fasten the electrical card connector firmly on the PCB. The electrical card connector assembly generally needs another element to fix the two electrical card connectors together. As a result, it is unduly complicated and inconvenient to assemble the two electrical connectors and mount them on the PCB.
Hence, a new electrical card connector assembly with multi-function boardlocks that overcomes the above-mentioned problems is desired.
An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical card connector assembly having multi-function boardlocks which stack two or more electrical card connectors together and fasten them firmly on a PCB.
To achieve the above-mentioned object, a stacked electrical card connector assembly in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a first electrical card connector, a second electrical card connector, a pair of boardlocks and a pair of grounding members. The boardlocks engagingly stack the two electrical card connectors together, and protrude below the second electrical card connector for fixing to a PCB. The boardlocks thus securely fix the two electrical card connectors to the PCB.